Behind the Mask: Raccoon City
by KeilidoscopicView
Summary: The incident of Raccoon City devestated the United States of America in September of 1998. The story has been portrayed through the eyes of others, but this follows Elijah Moiron, a hired mercenary fresh off the block for umbrealla's UBCS. He has seen war, but is he prepared for the events that unfold?
1. chapter 1

**Behind The Mask: Raccoon City**

A fan-fiction of **_Resident_** **_Evil_** : **_2_** by Jack Briggs (alias). I am sorry if something I write might not be 100% accurate! Feel free to PM me your thoughts and ideas for the series! This is the first chapter of many to come! Enjoy!

 **Chapter One: Introductions**

Sirens blared as police vehicles and hospital ambulances rushed down the crowded streets. Citizens bolted from building to building or alley to alley trying to evade the turmoil. People were dying and it seemed as if there was no savior in sight. The glimpses of infected feasting on corpses seemed to be the only end to this madness. A madness which will soon be labeled the incident of Raccoon CIty. The events that transpired in this small mountain town will never be forgotten and so shall the people whos' lives were lost in that spring of 1998. There were said to be zero survivors after the city was bombed. This story will prove otherwise...

My I.D card sat on the edge of my desk. My picture replaced with that of just another nameless soldier in a suit. They may have took my image away, but my name was still there.

"Elijah Moiron".

I got up to go to the bathroom where I stared at myself in the mirror.

"...just Another husk?" I sighed.

My eyes glanced up and down my body not knowing what I was looking for. WHO I was looking for. It felt like minutes passed before I shook of those thoughts and went back to bed. That night, I thought of my childhood home. My sister. My mother and father.

"Where are they now?" I thought. "How are they doing?..."

These images of my family shook me to my core and brought me to tears before finally forcing me asleep. Then morning came, and with it the sound of my alarm clock. I got up to fix the bed then do the usual morning ritual. After my shower, I stepped through the corridor and down to the kitchen. The smell of coffee and warmed up MRE's floated in the air. A familiar smell for this time of day. Coffee sounded extra good after the sleepless night I had. I entered the room and was immediately greeted by a handful of associates, some of which were on my team. Familiar faces who all enjoyed my company as much as I did theirs. Needless to say, we were not the best of friends, however, we had each other in a pinch. These people knew me and I knew them. A sergeant has to know his squad through and through. Garlan, my second in command, walked over to the coffee pot.

"Mornin bud. You want a cup?" He asked.

I nodded then sat down next to the rest of my team. At the end of the table sat Acie, a smart runt of a man who was good with a rifle. The other side of him sat Bradley, but we call him brad for short. He was down home at heart but not the friendliest man on earth at first. Garlan handed me my cup of coffee and sat next to Brad.

"So. Shipping out today." He said.

"I know. Feels like we are back in the Corps, huh?" I replied. "Yeah. Yeah it does."

I took a drink of my coffee and sat watching the grey wall behind them.

"Raccoon city." Bradley uttered.

"I used to know a couple drinkin buddies there. One of em had this real bad eye ball that couldn't see shit."

"What are you on about, Brad?" Acie replied. "You tellin stories again? Or maybe you're just having another memory from your "FIRST LIFE"?"

This cracked all of us up as Brad began shifting around trying to explain to us that he has been around for ages. I think he's just a little out there. We all are though for the most part. The chatter and laughter had been another thing that they couldn't take from us. Umbrella somehow missed the part where we are still humans overall. Lucky for us I guess.

The time finally came to gear up and head out with the convoy. We gathered our materials and suited up preparing for whatever the world could throw at us. I didn't see much action over seas or working mercenary work for random millionaires so I figured what we were doing here was small time. Umbrella had never sent us out before. All we have done for the past years is train to be the best that they wanted us to be. They must have seen something in us because I sure as hell didn't. I walked down the main hall of the barracks given to us by Umbrella. Rooms lined both sides until the end of the corridor where it met the wall. On one side was the briefing room where they would deliver our assignments. Never been in there until now. Never had a reason to. On the other sat the elevators to the other stories of the facility. I opened the door and stepped inside. My team sat circling around a large main screen in the center of a table. We all were wearing our Sunday's finest. More suits for mindless zombies. This thought made me sigh. I walked over to my open seat and sat down placing my sidearm's holster on the table.

"Anything yet?" I ask.

Garlan, who was adjusting his mask, nudged his shoulders and shook his head.

"Huh, thought they said 0600?"

"Maybe they are held up with somethin? This Raccoon City thing might be bigger than we anticipated?" Brad replied.

Immediately after he finished, the light from the screen turned on to a case file of the incidents occurring in the city. Files of scientists and dossiers littered the screen. The one they wanted us to be concerned with was Dr. Hailee Shumer. Shumer worked inside a small bunker area beneath a pharmacy in the middle of Raccoon City. It was apparent that we were the ones tasked to find and retrieve her. Umbrella then sent a briefing of what the, codenamed T-virus, was and how to effectively dispatch anyone or anything that had came in contact with it. The file read that the virus was a sudo-weaponized form of some other strand that they wouldn't tell us about. Seemed we didn't need to know all the history. They also informed us that we were to destroy any form of paperwork, lab test, and even DNA that was associated with them to cover their tracks. Smart, but having a load of mercs do that job is very risky. The pay was good though so I couldn't make much of an argument. As the briefing ended, a woman appeared on screen. Most of her body was blackened out, however, I could make out her form from her waist down. She was sleek and didn't seem much of the typical scientist type Umbrella is known for. Didn't matter to me though. A boss is a boss. She began with a statement.

"Ensure the safety of the scientists you will encounter and any research that they need to excract. Failure to deliver will result in termination. Civilians do not matter. Dispose of them if you must. Protect the researchers with your life. You are dismissed."

I sat there thinking to myself about how odd that place functioned.

"...Kill Civilians?" I muttered. "...who Really are these people?"

I looked over to Garlan, who was strapping the final piece of his mask together, and asked his thoughts.

"Jobs a job, right?" He shrugged.

Brad and Acie were already heading out the door when I stood up. It didn't seem to bother them much either. I then stood up, grabbed my holster, and headed out behind them. To my surprise, Brad was waiting for me outside. He was putting his mask on when he asked.

"So, UBCS? Is this a promotion? Shouldn't we get a raise?" He smirked.

We continued down the hallway as I replied.

"Yeah, be nice wouldn't it?" "That it would."

Brad hesitated for a moment. "So, do you really beleive all this could be real? Or maybe it's just a cover? I don't know. What's your opinion?"

We continued down to our rooms where the other two were getting the rest of their equipment.

I turned to Brad and replied. "Don't know. It does seem weird, but i've seen weird things in this world. We will just see when we get there, huh?"

"Just remember to stay on target. Focus on what we have to do first." Garlan added.

We all then finished readying ourselves for the ride. ID badge on, weapons checked, radio synced, and a feeling of fear inside me. I was ready to go. We headed down the corridor making sure that lights were off and doors closed. Acie then called the elevator for us. It felt like hours waiting for it. Like time began to slow down and the air got heavy. Something about this assignment just didn't sit right with me. Money is money though. I stirred this mantra up in my mind to help me ease my way into whatever situation I would face. The ding of the elevator broke the numbing silence around us. The doors opened and we stepped inside. I didn't think it could feel any slower than what it just did, but that ride down seemed to go on forever. Not a single one of us spoke too. We knew that it was time to be serious. Even Bradley. As we reached the vehivle bay of the outpost, I noticed a shinning ring hanging from Acie's pocket. I never knew much about him, so I figured now would be a good time to learn if he was ever married.

"What's that?" I asked pointing at his BDU's.

He smiled and pulled out the ring. He showed me that their were initials engraved on the inside.

" ** _RWD_** "

"No, it's not a wedding band if that's what you're thinking. It's a ring my father game to me when I turned eleven." He sighed and returned it to his pocket. "The only thing mom gave me to remember him by."

My eyes widened a bit in sorrow. I placed my hand on his shoulder and bowed my head to him. "I understand."

I never really knew who these to were past their name's. Garlan and I go way back, but Acie and Bradley seemed like good men. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. The inside of the bay was large enough to house a few military jeeps and space to work on them. There were other soldiers stationed here too, but I'd never met them before. Didn't need to. We stepped off the elevator and walked to the jeep designated to us by Umbrella. Never could stand these things. I didn't much care for them during my time in the military. Bitches to work on if a piece broke. Acie and I hopped into the front while the other two sat in the back. We sat our weapons at our sides and began to wait.

"0700 is when they open, right?" Brad asked.

"That's what the dossier said." Garlan replied.

I looked down at my watch as Acie started the jeep. Memories rushed my mind. Pictures of what I have done with my life flashed before me.

"Did I make the right choices?" I thought to myself.

I may have done things in the past, but i don't regret a single moment of it. Still scares the hell out of me thought. The man I have become scares me beyond anything else, but somehow this assignment is getting to me.

"I wonder what is going on?" I ponder. "I wonder."

My watches hand's hit 7:00 a.m. and the doors opened as promised. The warm morning sunlight bled through to the pale concrete interior. I took one deep breath, looked over to Acie, and nodded.

"Lets move out."

 **Chapter Two: Complications**


	2. chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Complications**

As our convoy reached the one mile marker to Raccoon City, I couldn't help but worry about what was waiting for us. It seemed too off. The more I tried to dismiss the thoughts, the more they fought back.

"Would we really need to kill civilians?" I thought.

I wouldn't say I hadn't killed before, but those I had killed were militaries or militia. The idea of killing someone who didn't deserve it rattled me. Umbrella said they would "Terminate" anyone who failed to comply with this. I was too scared to even question what this meant. I started to wonder why we never saw any other vehicles on the road. That mixed with erie silence was sickening. I felt as if we were going straight into the gates of hell. No one seemed bothered by this too. They all seemed so quiet. It just seemed too off. Worry aside, I had a job to do and money to be made. I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind and focused on the task at hand.

"Alright. We know the road we have to take right? The building she's in?" I asked.

"Yeah, go right down the main street then turn off to a large three story building." Garlan replied pulling a handheld device from his vest.

This was our radar. Umbrella issued them to us. They sense heartbeats, including ours, and have a direct sync to the commissioned owner of the device. This gives it the capability of showing the person's vitals along with mental health. I didn't know how they made those devices, but they sure were neat. They also came with a detailed overview of Raccoon City's road layout.

"See this road?" Garlan asked pointing to the screen. "This is the one. That building there is the pharmacy. Arklay Pharmaceuticals."

"We head straight there. In and out. Quiet as possible." I commanded. "The dossier said that mutations within this infection were possible with any host that it interacted with. So be alert to your surroundings. We don't need an accident on our hands."

I tried to keep my composure as best as I could.

"Echo Charlie Hotel Oscar, Do you read, over?" One of the other sergeant radioed over to us.

"We read you loud, Bravo Romeo Alpha Victor Hotel Alpha, What's your copy?" I switched my comms system over and replied.

"Radioing in to tell you that Beta Echo Tango Alpha will be joining your side of the city. Radio in to them and reunite if things go south, over."

I turned back to Garlan and pointed at his map.

"New plan, if we get separated then head here. Beta team will be there waiting for us."

I turned forward again as we approached the entrance to the city. Immediately, we noticed cars overturned and bodies on the ground. Buildings were on fire and blood flowed through the streets.

"Where were all the people?" I mumbled.

"Probably hiding in these buildings. It's what I would do." Brad replied.

"Yeah, me too." I agreed. "Help any civilians that you can, alright?" I commanded.

"That's not our mission here." Garlan retorted.

I turned to him and glared.

"Doesn't matter. Help who you can when you can. Alright?"

He glared back but then looked off into the road.

"Yes, sir."

We continued down the street eventually meeting a t-section. We followed Beta team to the right while the others went left. We were out of sight of the other teams when we rounded a corner to find an oil truck blocking the pathway. We pulled up side by side with Beta team's jeep and stopped the engine.

"Alright, seems we have to go on foot from here. Brad and Garlan inspect the area. Acie check the radar to see if anyone is around besides us." I ordered.

We filed out of the jeep and went separate directions. The seargent of Beta team approached me as I was inspecting the ammo count in our jeep.

"Elijah, right? Pete. So this trucks blocking the whole damn street, but there are buildings on both sides. One takes us directly to the alley closest to our objective. The other will take your team around the truck. My radar specialist said he hadn't picked up any heartbeats so we might be alone."

"Alright. I'll take my team and head in that direction. Designate that office building behind us as our rendezvous point. Listen, anything goes south, meet back there alright? Be careful out here." We both nodded.

He signaled his team to enter their building and they disappeared in the darkness. I finished loading the spare magazines we had then distributed them out between us all.

"We have one path. That building. Beta seargent said that it would take us directly through to where we need to go. We have four magazines of extra ammo and our sidearm. Do not hesitate to ask for ammo from one another if you need it. Be sparse with it though, seeing as we are leaving the jeep behind."

I walked over to the front door of the building which read.

" ** _Apartment Complex Section B_** ".

"Locked. Of course." I muttered.

The others stacked up along the wall as I kicked the door through. The interior corridor was filled with the smell of rotted blood and corpses. It forced a gag from all for of us. I had smelled rotting blood before but this was so much more unbearable. Much more disgusting and horrid. It was unimaginable.

"We gotta get out of this hallway." Garlan yelled. "The smells burning my eyes."

We quickly shifted to the stairwell and noticed a solid steel door leading to the back alley. Acie rushed to it and tried to move it but to no avail. It wouldn't budge without a key.

"Too thick to knock down. You'd break your shoulder if ya tried." Brad added.

"Well. Then we need the key. Split up and search the area for the maintenance area or owner of the building. Garlan, you and I will take the upstairs. You two check down here." I sighed.

"WE get the stench? What is that all about, Elijah?" Acie yelled.

"You two are manlier than I am. A little stink wont hurt you, right?" I replied with a small laugh.

"Fine, fine. But we better hurry. Im gonna fill this mask with vomit if we don't get that key soon." Brad said as he opened the door closest to him and walked inside.

Acie did the same but to the adjacent door. Garlan and I then headed up the stairs to find four more apartments that line both sides of the building equally.

"You go left, I got right?" He asked.

"Meet back in two minutes." I added.

We faced our doors and simultaneously walked inside. The smell from before seemed less strong here which gave me hope. I didn't want to spend my entire time here smelling rot. Who would? I stepped inside the apartments living room noticing three other rooms down a hallway in front of me. To my left was the kitchen. It looked untouched. Everything here seemed untouched. I gripped my rifle tight and began to search the room. I checked the drawers. Nothing. I searched through the cupboards. Nothing again. I noticed a stack of envelopes next to the microwave. I picked up the top one which looked to be a letter from the person who owned this building. I opened it to see if we could figure out where that key would be. It read.

" ** _Dear, Cindy Lennox. I understand that you haven't been able to keep up with your rent. That bar you_** **_work_** **_at isn't paying enough is it? Or maybe you have another habit that might be sucking up your paycheck_**. **_Doesn't matter. I need that three months rent or you're out. Come by room 104. Tony, you know him right? Good kid. He keeps the on_** **_site materials I need there. IF I don't get my rent by the end of this week, return your key to him and get the hell out._** "

I sat the paper back down.

"Bingo. Room 10-"AhhHHHHH!" A bone chilling scream rang out through the building.

I ran out as quickly as possible running into Garlan who seemed fine.

"You alright?!" I yelled.

"Yeah, must have been one of the other two!" I agreed and we rushed downstairs to find Brad on the ground with what looked to be a man on top of him.

Acie quickly jerked the man off and drew his rifle on him. I helped Brad up to his feet noticing a large cut in his forearm.

"You alright, B?" I asked.

"Yeah im fine. Fucker got my with his knife!"

The man, who slowly stood back up, seemed to howl at us as he crept even closer. Acie warned him, even hitting him back again but this didn't seem to affect him. He kept on coming. Before Acie could fire a shot, Garlan sunk the tip of his knife into the mans skull causing him to fall limp to the floor. We fell silent for a moment before patching Brad's arm up. Acie broke the silence.

"What. The. Hell. Was that? Was it the infection? Didn't they say that they would act differently than normal?"

"Must have been. They don't seem _too_ dangerous." Garlan replied.

"True. How you doing, Brad?" They asked.

"Im good. Got me in the arm is all. It ain't gonna kill me." He replied.

I finished stitching up his arm the best I could then noticed that the skin around his wound was changing to a purple pale color. I decided not to warn him. We needed all of us to be in the right state of mind. I also noticed Brad's device was flashing Orange.

"...Biohazard?" I thought.

I tried not to think about what that meant.

"Well, did you find anything upstairs?" Brad asked.

"I did. If that key is here. It will be in room 104. Someone named Tony lived there. He kept all the on site tools and keys." I replied.

We all shifted our attention to the door and stacked up on the wall next to it.

"Be careful here, those things could be anywhere. Be alert." I added.

"3. 2. 1. Breach!" I said as I opened the door. We rushed in to more darkness. The only light came through a barred window to the alley.

"Search for those keys. Once we find them, let's get the hell out of here." I ordered.

We split up to search rooms, me taking the living room, Garlan the bathroom, and Acie with Brad in the bedroom. I looked around finding absolutely nothing. The kitchen yielded nothing as well. As I opened up one of the drawers, a fork fell from it clanging on the concrete floor. I thought nothing of it until I heard a loud hiss from the hallway. This shook my core. Something was out there. It must have followed us in. I could hear scratching along the floor as it came through the hallway. The hissing became louder as I watched it walk into the light from the window. I quickly covered my flashlight. The creature was a muscle red and looked like it's skin had been peeled off. It didn't seem to notice me either. Only the noise of the fork. The thing's tongue shot out of its mouth and directly at the fork which it pulled back into its mouth, spit it back out, then moved to the furthest wall next to the window. It then climbed up to the ceiling corner and sat there looking in my direction. My brain scattered on what to do. This beast would surely kill me if it heard my movements. I had to think before the others got finished searching. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted an egg timer.

"Perfect" I thought.

I slowly and gently reached over to grab it. The creatures head movements followed my body as if it was able to see the heat meeting from it, but it only reacted to sound. Once I had the timer, I stood very, very still. Even my breathing stopped. The air itself got heavy.

" **CLick...CLick...CLick...click...** "

I turned the dial a good five times. I exhaled slowly, aimed for the window, and threw as hard as I could. The ringing vibrated through the silence as the timer burst through the window and into the alley. It screeched terrifyingly and juped after it, squeezing through the bars. I didn't hesitate to rush to the other rooms getting the rest of my team one by one as quickly and quietly as possible. Not even spirits themselves could tell we had even been there. Before we left though, I noticed that more of them ran from the alleyway and after the timer. We didn't stick around at all though and I quickly closed the door behind me. With my team in the corridor, I could finally breath again.

"What the hell was that about?" Garlan angrily demanded.

"Mutations. *Huff Huff* There were at least a dozen of them outside and one that followed us in here." I replied.

"Huh? A type of muatation with the t-virus?" Acie asked.

"Yes. We do not need to go this way. We can go through the other building with Beta. This way is way too dangerous." The rest of them agreed without any reluctance.

We left the building without another word and closed the door behind us.

"Watch the rooves and ceilings. They can climb and cling to surfaces. Alright?" I ordered.

We crossed the street with to extra complications and found ourselves at the door. It was a local hardware store that smelt like wood and steel mixed with even more rot. We entered the building and made our way to the back. No sign of Beta team. They had to have moved out already. More corpses riddled the floor though. That explained the rotting smell. We finally reached the back and noticed that the door was cracked open. We didn't hear anything coming from the other side so we decided it wasn't in the best interest to breach but rather just open it. So I did. The alley was narrow and riddled with garbage and again more corpses. This time, one of them stood out to me. We walked over to inspect it. The other bodies were civilian infected, but this one was from Beta team. Acie helped me flip him over. I regretted that. We saw that his mask was broken and a huge crater rested where is chest should be. The name badge read.

" ** _Peter Scorseysin_** ".

The Beta team's seargent laid dead in front of us. The sight of his corpse brought us to a chilling halt. I bent down to grab what was left of his name badge. I opened my wallet and placed the ID inside. When I stood up, though, I noticed my team frozen solid looking all around us. Infected and mutations alike appeared form thin air. From the rooftops to the gutters. We were surrounded.


	3. chapter 3

**Chapter Three: A New Face**

The infected swarmed us from every crack and corner around. Mutations hopped from the roofs to the ground screaming and screeching. Sounds I would never forget. Acie quickly raised his gun to shoot, but my reflexes caught him. Shootig would just pull more of the mutations. I turned him in the direction facing south of us and bolted.

"Run!" I demanded.

The others didn't hesitate as they quickly followed. However, the moment we started running, the mutations began chasing. The sound of their exposed muscle amd claws smacked against the pavement made us run faster than I ever had before. We had no time to check doors or breach a building with those things trailing so closely. All we could do was run. Run far and fast. Run. It was like a bodily instinct took over and my mind started pacing with the words.

"Run. Breath. Run. Breath."

We rounded a corner tp find more infected blocking our path. It seemed like there were no paths to take. No trails to use. No way out. I ordered my team to hold and defend. I figured we would die. We raised our rifles and waited for them to follow after us, but they seemed to have stopped. Not a single one of them rounded that corner. We could still hear them screaming, but couldn't see them. It was strange.

"Hold.." I mumbled.

Our barrels pointed over and over to find them. My attention then switched to the other infected, who were shambling toward us. It seemed more than fifty must had been there and the moans they made were completely unnerving. Their white pupils made them feel lifeless. They were not people anymore. They were the living dead. The screaming from the mutations stopped suddenly as if they were never there. We searched but didn't see a single one, so we focused our rifles to the infected behind us.

"Fire!" I yelled as a barrage of bullets filled the street.

Body shots didn't affect them at all. Chunks of tissue flew off them but they kept coming. My magazine ran out causing me to pause, reload, and then continue firing. Nothing still happened until a stray bullet fired off from a gun behind us pierced the skull of an infected, killing it instantly. I turned around to find a red haired man standing behind us. He was dressed in a R.C.P.D uniform and didn't look to be over the age of twenty. The first survivor we had seen and instead of us saving him, he's saving us.

"THE HEAD! AIM FOR THE HEAD!" He yelled.

He moved toward us and joined the firing line we had made then continued to shoot. This "kid" seemed to know how to take them down. He would be useful to us. I had to keep him alive. We began aiming for the head, which worked dropping the infected left and right effectively clearing the alley around us.

With the infected gone, it was a sigh of relief that we had acually survived like that, but i couldn't help myself in thinking.

"Where did the rest of Beta team go?".

We had to find them, or what was left of them for whatever family they had. That was just another task added to the list, for now, figure out who this kid was.

Before I could even look over to him, Garlan had him on the ground with his pistol to his head.

"Who are you!?" He damanded.

"Why were you out here? Who do you work for?!".

I had to intervine before he really started to get pushy. Knowing him, that would have ended with the poor childs life being taken. I pulled Garlan away and commanded he lower his weapons. Being his surperior, he abliged. I turned back to the officer and helped him up asking what his name was.

"Calvin." He retorted. "Calvin Brooks. I'm a rookie for the Raccoon City Police Department. Just recently graduated. Didn't think my first days on the job would have killing infected civilians I swore to protect. Who are you guys?" He asked notcicing our badges. "SWAT? Military? Special Forces?" He added.

I paused for a moment then quickly replied. "U.S Special Op, Squad 332."

"Uh-huh. So. What's going on here?" He asked while reloading his pistol.

He seemed to have beleived it enough but at the same time seemed suspicious. This young man may have been smarter thatn I previously thought. Most would just accept that answer and get the hell away, not ask for more information.

"A virus outbreak. Classified intel." Acie quickly replied.

I was too focused on how the man held himself. He reminded me alot of myself at that age.

"A virus? Yeah, anyone with a brain could see that. What's going on underneath, is what I meant. Why is it turning people rabid? And creating mutant insects?"

This caught us off gaurd. "Mutant...Insects?" I replied.

"Yeah. Didn't you not see the pods down at the library? Some kind of bug has been trapping people in cacoons and then taking them there. Did you guys just get here or something?"

Calvin became confused by this. Did he beleive we were here all along? Maybe he thought that we arrived on day one? I didn't know, so I had to ask.

"Was there anyone else with this type of gear here before we showed up?"

He looked off to a tall building closer to the left of the city.

"Yeah, they are in that building. Said that they aren't taking survivors and that anyone who shows up gets shot. I had a buddy on the force go there to check it out. He never came back so I guess they weren't lying."

This boggled my mind. The only Umbrella corps soldiers stationed here were the ones that were hired to protect the scientists like Shumer. Commucation with those groups went out as soon as this started though.

"Officer Calvin. Why aren't you out helping set up barricades and police lines with the others?" Garlan asked.

"Well, because this side of the city has gone dark. No radio chatter whatsoever. Most officers here are either dead or infected. I hooked up with a group of survivors and decided to help them as much as I could. The reason i'm out here is because an old man in the group needs insulin and I was the only canidate with a vehicle strong enough to plow through infected. I was actually heading there right now before heard screaming from back here. Figured i'd do my job and see if anyone needed help."

Calvin. A good kid. A spitting image of what I should have been. Thoughts of my past started to stir again. I had to hastily suppress them by asking.

"Insulin. You were heading to a pharmacy? Which one?"

He turned and pointed down the alley where he appeared from.

"Arklay Pharmaceuticals. Why? Did you need to go there?" He replied.

We wouldn't be able to tell a civilian our mission, but we could use him seeing how dangerous this area is, so I lied to him.

"Yes, we needed to bring a cache of medical supplies to the hospital. We were the only logical choices. Too dangerous for civilians."

"Hmm. I heard that place was overrun, nice to see its doing good. Alright. If you want, I can accompany you. An extra gun could be usefull."

I nodded in agreement and relief that he had fell for that. Maybe he was just a civilian. Anyway, we reloaded our rifles, turned down the alley, and began walking to the goal we had set. Acie marhced behind me as he asked.

"So, Officer Calvin. How many more survivors are there with you?"

"Well. we have a few people. An old man and his daughter. A young woman who won't speak to anyone. A couple others. Boy, will they be glad to see you guys though. Everyone there won't stop talking about when the army will show up to evacuate them. I told them about that broken down building where the other guys like you were, but they thought it could be bandits or something. Too dangerous."

We exited the alley and connected back to the street where a few infecteed lingered about. Nothing we couldn't handle. Busted up cars littered the asphalt and fires sprung up from them.

"See that building over there? That's Arklay. We gotte get there." Calvin pointed out even though we had already knew that.

We had to keep our sharade up though.

"Alright. Stay out of sight and out of mind of any infected. It's easiest to do this quietly." I ordered as we began down the street.

Acie walked up next Calvin and asked.

"Did you have any doctors in the group? Any high ranking officials?"

"Nope. None that I know of. Just a bunch of misfits that somehow made it to a safe spot. Well, safer spot." He replied.

"Okay, did your group try to **_conta_** -"

He stopped. His walking stopped. His talking stopped. He just went silent which caused all of us to turn around. He looked stiff like a statue and his rifle fell from his grasp. I watched it go down then noticed movement in his leg. All of a sudden, a tongue burst through it causing his leg to sever from his body to the ground. This caused him to scream out and fall as well.

I quickly ran over to him and pulled out my cartarizer as the other three began shooting at the mutations that followed us. They didn't leave. They set up and ambush. They are intelligent. Time began to slow down as the screams of my friends and the whizzing of bullets rang through my ears. I pressed the cartarizer on and it immediatley heated up to a bright orange. I then pressed it against his artery as hard as I could. He struggled for a minute and begged me to stop the pain. To kill him. He struggled and screamed but innevitabley passed out. I quickly threw his helmet off to check his breathing, which was fine.

I looked down at my friend with the blonde locks being coevered by the pool of blood and mud underneath him. I didn't know him very well but the thought of losing him devestated me. I wouldn't let him die. I couldn't bear with the thought that this man would die on my watch. Die under my command. That some mother and father would lose their son because of my poor judgement. I would not let him die. I checked the sensor hooked to him and the light flashed a bright red. Then it began to slow to a solid yellow. His vitals read shock but were switching back to stable and the bleeding stopped. One more minute of blood loss and he would have bled out. If not for the fast timing, he would have died. Reality then started to drift back as time sped up again. I could hear Garlan's voice and his hand smack the back of my helmet. I turned to see him firing off the rounds of his magazine then looking down at me.

"Come ON!" He yelled.

"We HAvE To GO!".

I shook my head and stabled my nerves enough to get up to my feet pulling Acie up with me. I threw his arm over my shoulder and switched my focus on the numerous mutations that were charging right at us. With Acie on one arm and my rifle in my other hand, I began walking to the nearest sturdy looking door motioning my men to follow me. Brad, who had apparantly been injured himself, threw down his rifle to help me carry Acie into the building we headed for. Calvin followed then Garlan who hastily slammed the door closed behind us.

The front of the stoor had barred windows and looked like some kind of gunshop. Both Calvin and Garlan braced themselves against the door as the rest of the creatures tried bashing themselves through the barred windows. Without hesitation, I laid Acie onto the floor where Brad was watching over him then turned my rifle barrel to the windows and opened fire. I shot off every round of one clip, then the next, and then the next until I was empty. I seemed to have killed one with every shot but still more kept coming. They beat at the door pushing the two blocking it further and further off of it with every nudge.

"Elijah! We have to Run!" Garlan demanded.

We could run. We could turn arounf through that door and leave Acie. That's what Garlan wanted.

"He's deadweight, J! We have to go!" He yelled.

"I WILL NOT LEAVE HIM! WE STAY AND FIGHT!" I ordered, furious from the thought that he would want to run.

He would have never done that before. Garlan had changed since we were just kids in the force. He changed worse than I did.

"FIGHT!? ARE YOU INSANE!?" He retorted as they beat them away from the door little by little.

"YES! IF WE FUNNEL THEM THEN WE CAN KILL THEM! BRAD, EQUIP YOUR SIDEARM AND STAND UP. WHEN I SAY 1, OPEN. THAT. DOOR!"

"FUCK! ALRIGHT!" Garlan screamed.

I propped up shoulder to shoulder with Brad and took aim at the door.

"You sure you wanna do this, sir!?" Brad asked.

"We have to. For Acie! He would have done it for us!"

Time began to slow again as I watched in frame by frame motion. In a calm voice, I ordered.

" ** _3!_** "

The grip around my pistol became sweaty.

" ** _2!_** "

The sounds of their bodies hitting the window echoed through the building.

" ** _1!_** "

My heart beat stilled as they opened the door. I could see piles of the fleashy creatures pour inside.

" ** _FIRE_** "

I yelled as I began to empty my magazine.


	4. chapter 4

**Chapter Four: The Friend For Life**

The mutations poured into the doorway as we opened fire. Left and right they fell onto the floor with more filling their place. It seemed to be an endless stream of creatures ready and willing to rip us to pieces.

"..The end" I pictured.

I didnt want to die there. I didnt want to see my life flash before my eyes as those beasts ripped at me. It seemed inevitable though. It seemed we were going to die. One of the creatures lunged at me from the pile of bodies and time began to slow down again. The beast's mouth opened agape and its razor teeth were inches from my face.

"...Im sorry." I thought.

"MOVE!" Someone screamed from behind us as a bullet whizzed by my helmet striking the creature causing it to crash to the ground.

I quickly glanced over my shoulder to see the remaining soldiers of Beta team firing off at the creatures from behind us. The one that saved me ran in front of me bracing himself dead on with the horde while the other two lifted Acie up and helped him out the back door.

I turned to Garlan and yelled.

"Come on! Here's our chance! lets go!"

Without hesitation, he bolted through the door leaving Calvin behind with me. I pushed his shoulder back and we both followed through the door. Gunfire continued to ring out though as I looked up to see Brad approaching the doorway.

"Come on, B!" I ordered.

He stood in the doorway for a moment then looked down at his sensor. I could see over his shoulder that one of the Beta team members had already been taken down and the other was being swarmed. Brad quickly ripped his ID off and threw it on the ground saying.

"Now's YOUR chance, sir. Get Acie out of here."

Within a blink of time, he slammed the door shut as i heard the screams of pain from inside the room. I ran to the door and tried to bash through it, tears welling in my eyes, but to no avail. The big steel door wouldn't budge. I stood for a moment listening. Nothing. Nothing but silence.

"That fucking idiot..." Garlan muttered.

"Wha-..Why would he do that?"

My hands started to shake as I fell to my knees.

"...to buy us time...for Acie." I replied.

I pressed my hand against the door.

Thoughts started to flourish through my head all at once. Memories. Ideals. Mantras. As I looked back up, my gloved hand was now the size of a small bare child's. The door was no longer steel and the alleyway faded around me. I had no equipment on either. The world seemed to shift around me. Startled, I stood to my feet and checked around me. No one. Nothing but plains and open farm. A memory I had. This was a farm. Chills went down my spine.

"What is this?..." I spoke softly and the world around me echoed the words.

"Why am-" I was cut off by a scream coming from inside the house.

I turned to see a ember black door with a fiery red handle jolting around. I could hear terrible crying from behind it. I remembered this. The door banged and banged with more screaming. I quickly ran up to it and grabbed the handle, but immediately let go due to the burn it gave me. I couldn't open the door so I moved to the windows. Nothing but black smoke filled the house. I tried to break it but it wouldn't shatter! I started to panic as this felt more and more vivid. My breathing ramped in height and my nerves shot out of me. I couldn't help these people.

"...elijah..." I heard from behind the door.

My eyes widened in fear and my body stiffened. Multiple voices then began to ring out.

"...Elijah...help me...ElijahElijahElijah help me..." They screamed.

The continued growing louder and louder almost deafening me bringing me down to my knees. I covered my ears from the shrill voices but they just kept coming.

"ElijahELIJAHELIJAHELIJAHELIJAH!"

They screamed louder bringing blood from my ears and eyes. I felt like my head was going to explode from preassure as I looked up to see burning claws protruding from the door. I wanted to get up and run but couldn't. The sound was too strong. Too powerful. Too deafening. A blackened hand stretched itself from the door to right above my head. The long arm looked as if it had splinters of glass and bone sticking out of it. The voices grew louder somehow as it reached down to my face. The molten hot fingers singed my brown hair and burned my skin. All I could do was look into the palm. A solid white eye appeared for a moment and looked down at me. The veins began pulsating blood through the iris lighting the pupil up in a fiery crimson. The hand reached down to my face and looked directly into my eyes. Terror would not explain how I felt. True horror was nothing compared to this. All i could do was wait for it to move. My hands were now covered in blood as it closed the eye back. With the eye gone, the noises stopped too creating an even stronger silence.

"...why..." I heard as a razor like mouth appeared from the palm shoving itself into my face.

"STAY AWAY!..." I woke screaming in the back of an ambulance. My breathing was rapid and my heart felt like it was about to rupture. Acie laid next to me on a stretcher with Garlan sitting next to both of us.

"Fuck!..You're up! J, Take it easy man alright?! Everything is gonna be okay." He said helping me up.

My head was throbbing hard as I sat up. I rubbed my eyes then noticed most of my gear was taken off of me. All of our gear was gone except for our sidearms, sensors, and radios. We looked to be dressed only in our issued BDUs. I turned to Garlan and asked.

"What happened?"

He finished monitoring my sensor then replied.

"Well, after Brad had closed the door behind us, the mutations began climbing over the roof calling in more infected. Calvin grabbed Acie and I threw you over my shoulder. We quickly shambled to the nearest building which happened to have a this ambulance out front, we hopped in and luckily the keys were in it. Needless to say, we are about ten blocks away from where that store was. Calvin said this is close to where his group was, so that's where we are heading now."

"...Brad." I thought.

He sacrificed himself for us. For Acie. That country boy did what he did to keep us alive to help others or finish this mission. I will never know. The still ambulance began to rock a bit startling me.

"Don't worry, J. That's just a few infected that rock the sides a bit when they hear us talk in here." Garlan said pulling a screen off to reveal Calvin in the driver's seat and the other Umbrella soldier sitting in the passenger's side looking at his sensor.

"So, you said that we are blocks away. Where exactly are we?" I replied. "Are we close enough to the objective?" I tried to keep my voice down so that I wouldn't give off any info that Calvin shouldn't know.

"Close enough. Calvin wants us to go with him to the group but I think we need to continue the mission." Garlan replied.

The rocking on the van picked up more.

"Well ye-" I stopped as the Umbrella soldier was immediately drug out the window by a large herd of infected.

"FUCK! THERE ARE MORE THAN WE THOUGHT, GARLAN!" Calvin yelled.

He reached down and started the ambulance as the screams of the soldier being ripped apart echoed through the interior. Another scream. Another taken life. I'm sick of hearing screams. Hearing the last words of people who have families outside of this company. The company that sent us in on what? A suicide mission? Umbrella is ringing more and more bad numbers for me. I'm staring to see that the money isn't worth the price. The ambulance started up as Garlan swung the back doors open. He pulled out his sidearm popping three infected in a matter of seconds. Calvin smashed the pedal down shooting us forward. Infected fell to the ground as we drove off. There must have been twenty or so surrounding us with even more rounding the corner. How could so many of them be so quiet? They're more dangerous than what we previously thought.

"HOLD TIGHT!" Calvin screamed as we swerved around a corner smashing into the windows of a small storefront.

The impact sent me flying to the front almost falling on top of Acie, who was jolted awake by the crash. Garlan fell out the back before we hit. I could see him across the street, but I could also see more infected filing up in front of the back doors. They couldn't clamber over the steps of the ambulance but with them falling over each other they would be on us in seconds. Calvin pushed the door that connected the cab to the back open and asked.

"Everyone alright?! Where is Garlan?!" He dropped down to lift Acie up over his shoulder who was still trying to wake up. He mumbled to us but we couldn't understand a word he said. Garlan however, stood up and stared at us, shook his head no, then ran off in the opposite direction of where we were. I watched as he pushed infected away running down the street. My friend left us. The man I worked with since I worked in the corps. The man that I thought would have my back was no gone with the black of night. My friend the coward. Calvin lifted Acie over the dash then turned back to me. The infected were now grabbing at my ankles as Calvin pulled me over the dash as well. He threw the door shut behind him and lunged over it falling net to me. We both quickly stood up pulling Acie with us.

"We're close the the entrance of the building we are staying in. We get through this building and we should be there." Calvin exclaimed.

I didn't care where we were going. I wanted to get us out so I followed without question. We rushed through a door leading to the back of the store and quickly closed the door behind us. It wouldn't hold them at all but it would give us time to escape. Precious time we desperately needed seeing as they were already in the store before I closed it. We dropped Acie off on a nearby table while Calvin and I searched for a way to pry the backdoor open. It was a large solid steel door much like the one we encountered earlier so no busting through it. I turned to my left to see a large metal rod that looked to fit perfectly where the lock would. I gripped it tight in my hands and wedged the bar against the door causing the doorway around the lock to bust apart. Not the way I imagined it but that still worked. Calvin pulled Acie over his shoulder again and we rushed out the back finding ourselves in a small alley with dead ends all around. The infected crashed through the door behind us making their way through the back towards us.

"There! That building to the right is the one we are in. We can't go through the door though! It would draw to many of them!" Calvin said rushing his words and pointing out where we had to go.

"The fire escape!" I replied. "They wouldn't be able to climb that!"

"Yeah, but how are we gonna get him up?" He replied moving under the ladder.

"...I'll hold...on" Acie mumbled.

We didn't have the time to wait for him to talk more so we just continued on.

"Let me jump off your hands and I'll grab the ladder alright?" I ordered.

Calvin nodded and dropped Acie next to the wall. He rushed over under the ladder and posed himself with his hands sitting out. I mounted his shoulder and kicked off as he pushed up propelling me up just high enough so that i could grab hold. It came crashing down to the concrete slamming me on my back. Calvin quickly rushed to my aid, lifting me up to my feet. I dusted myself off as he picked Acie back up.

"You climb up first. If he falls, I will catch him." I ordered.

The infected then burst through the door grabbing our attention along with the quick aim of my pistol.

"I'll cover you! GO!" I commanded popping off shot after shot.

Left and right they fell causing the ones in the back to stumble over each other. They didn't care though. They were hungry. Calvin, as fast as he could, rushed up the ladder surprisingly keeping Acie on the whole time.

"COME ON!' He yelled from above.

Without hesitation, I bolted up the ladder just barely grazing the head of an infected on the way up. I fell to my back when I hit the top taking in as much air as I possibly could. The infected below us clambered but weren't getting anywhere.

"...Finally...Safe." Calvin huffed. "Now, I guess the insulin will have to wait util tomorrow. You guys don't play around do you? Yeah, you must be the elite. God. This place is hell. But we are safe for now. The groups on the top floor."

He turned to me and smiled holding his hand out. I grabbed it lifting myself up from his weight.

"I tell ya, It's been a crazy day." He opened the window behind us and lifted Acie up again. "So. you ready to meet em?"


End file.
